MONTREAL -- Pascal Leclaire remains on track in his recovery from an ankle injury that sidelined him for all but 12 games last season.

The Senators goalie told reporters before the draft that his rehab is going well and he has no "issues" with the ankle the former Blue Jacket had surgically repaired in January.

"I haven't skated yet, since the end of the season," said Leclaire, who has incorporated yoga into his workout routine. "There are (Player Association) meetings in Europe in mid-July. When I come back from there, I'll start skating. That gives me a lot of time. That's usually when I start. Some guys start skating in late June and early July.

DON'T NEED 400 SPLITS

"I find it's a little early. Especially for goalies. Summer hockey is not the best place to get better. Maybe for a forward, but for a goalie, the later you go into it with the guys, it's not as much scrimmage.

"For a goalie it's nice. You don't have to do 400 splits in the span of an hour to block the 5-on-0s."

Leclaire, like most of his teammates, was caught off-guard by Dany Heatley's trade demand earlier this month.

"It's always a surprise when a guy's got a long contract," he said.

"I'm not involved in that, I'm a player. But obviously he's one of the best players in the league and we would love for him to be a part of our team, but if things go the other way, it's something totally out of our control."

FINE WITHOUT HEATLEY

Leclaire says the Senators would be fine without Heatley.

"I think we're going to have a great team next year. The way the guys finished the year I think showed a lot of people that we have a great character team. It would have been easy for the guys to just fold it up, and wait until next year. But they fought hard to the end."